His Fallback Girl
by Miss Information
Summary: She's his fallback girl...the one he goes to when all other options are unappealing or unavailable. A brief passage of dialogue between Warren and Kitty, about Bobby and Rogue. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I don't own 'em.

A/N: I've written something like this before, but it didn't make it to the posting phase. Anyway, here's a little tale from the 'other woman' - Kitty Pryde - as she sits with Warren Worthington III and discusses her love life, her issues with Rogue and her addiction to the boy with ice-blue eyes. One-shot, of course.

Love it or shove it.

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**His Fallback Girl**

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"You know...I _did_ actually date Bobby for a while."

It had become their custom. Every Saturday night, the two of them would find themselves in the kitchen. She would have a bucket of ice-cream and he would have sandwich of Friday night's roast. The two of them would sit at opposite ends of the little breakfast table that stood by the French doors, and they would talk. Usually, the talk was small and mindless - what they'd done that week, the last mission that the team had been on, and the like. They talked over the small, mercenary things that didn't really need to be said, but cut through the silence well.

"But when _she_ came to the school, that was it. He suddenly felt like 'just being friends' again."

Sometimes they talked about more serious matters. When the Professor had reemerged, they'd discussed the philosophical and ethical issues surrounding his inhabitance of a new body. When Cyclops had returned with tales of torture at the hands of a vampire-looking madman, they'd discussed the bitter irony of mutants testing on mutants. Now, the Cure had begun to fade from the systems of those who had taken it, and with no more being produced there was no going back. Magneto was due to return to power any day, but all Kitty could think of was what it meant for herself.

"It's happened before, too," she said absently as she dug a spoon into the smooth, super-fatted ice-cream in front of her with a little more force than was necessary. "When he first came here, he asked me out. Then in stepped another girl. Her name was Polaris. Her _real_ name was Lorna, but she preferred Polaris. She left before Rogue came onto the scene. But at the time...it was just like it is now. Bobby couldn't see anything past Polaris, when she first came to the school. He dropped me - he said he just wanted to be _friends_."

"And you just went along with it?" Warren asked, as he tried to tuck a bit of tomato that was falling out of his sandwich back in.

"Of course I did. How would I look if I didn't?" Kitty shook her head. "And when Polaris left, Bobby came back to me."

"Right. Then Rogue appeared."

"Yeah. And I was dropped. Again." Kitty bit her bottom lip and looked up, over at the winged man. "I've heard rumors about _you_ and Rogue, actually," she said bluntly. "She and Bobby apparently had a huge fight, because he thinks she's spending too much time with you."

"I like her. She's nice." Warren shrugged. "And she doesn't think about me romantically, so he's got nothing to worry about."

Kitty's mouth tightened a little. "But do you feel the same way? Are you in it platonically?"

Warren went a little red. "Well...time to time, I guess, my mind takes me in a...uh, more than friendly direction. She's attractive, though. I guess it's just...human nature, pardon the pun."

"I thought so." Kitty smiled bitterly. "She's got deadly skin, but the body of a Sports Illustrated model, a place studying _law_ at _Harvard_, and a cute southern lilt to her voice to top it all off. I'd be asking more questions if you _didn't_ think about her like that." She stabbed at her ice-cream again. "Me...no matter how you dress it up, I'm not going to have a waist like hers, or boobs like hers, or even a charming smile like hers. Even if I were a late bloomer, I would've gotten _something_ by now. I'm always going to be short, straight up and down, and cute. Not pretty or beautiful, but cute. I can't compete against girls like her."

Warren frowned. "If it makes you so upset...why don't you try to just stop paying attention to Bobby?"

"He doesn't mean to do it, Warren. He...he doesn't think I care."

"Then let him know."

"I couldn't do that. I'd look pathetic." Kitty dropped her eyes back to her ice-cream, watching the spoon dig through the soft chocolate-flaked pink. "I tried to turn the tables, kind of. When Rogue came here, that is. I was going to start flirting full-on with Pyro, because...you've heard how those two were, right? Best friends, but they pretty much hated each other even when they were closest? Well...I figured that the best way to spark jealousy and bring Bobby's attention back to me would be to go after Pyro." She shook her head again. "Didn't work. Pyro wanted Rogue too. He and Bobby were too busy competing with each other over her to notice I was even in the room. As soon as Rogue appeared, anywhere, it was like I was invisible. Even after, when Bobby and Rogue started dating, Pyro didn't have time for me - he was still too busy flirting with her, even if it was just to piss Bobby off."

"I bet you don't like her, then."

Kitty snorted. "That's an understatement. But I know she doesn't mean to do it. Up until a little while ago, she was all awkward and weird around people. Even after she got the Cure. But now...God. I'll be lucky if Bobby even remembers my name, now. She's getting more lively, more happy. She's joking and teasing, and flirting and laughing. She's dressing 'safely' again but she'd dressing _hot_ at the same time. She's changed her hair; she goes out more; she's standing up for herself..."

Warren made an awkward face and dropped his eyes back to his sandwich. "You're jealous, aren't you?" he asked hesitantly.

"_What_?"

"Hey, it's just...my empathy powers..."

"Oh, right." Kitty slumped, defeated. "Yeah. Fine. I'm jealous. She's everything I'm not, and what I'm not seems to be what Bobby wants. It's...it's just so...frustrating. The guy I love more than anything loves everything that I'll never be." She snorted and shoveled a spoonful of melting ice-cream into her mouth. "Rogue...the pretty, fiery paragon; enrolled in Harvard and probably more powerful than me too. I can't compete."

"But you're smart - you're in engineering, for God's sakes. If I could do that..."

"Oh, yeah. I know how to crunch numbers and can tell which wire to connect to which when I'm mending light fixtures. Real helpful. When she graduates she'll be making executive decision in the X-Men, for the school. She'll be Xavier's legal council - I'll be his repair-girl, routinely mending the Danger Room after Wolverine's _mauled_ it." Kitty dropped her spoon into the ice-cream bucket and scrubbed her cold hands over her face. "God. I didn't used to be like this. All jealous, and crap. I hate it."

"Then...forget about Bobby. Move on," Warren suggested.

"I _can't_. You think I haven't _tried_?" Kitty laughed mirthlessly. "I just can't see any faults in him. He doesn't know what he's doing to me, when he dates me in between finding women that he really, _really_ likes. He doesn't understand..."

"And you're not going to tell him."

Kitty shook her head. "Nope. This secret's going with me to the grave." She sighed heavily. "I'll be his friend for the rest of my life, but unless Rogue leaves and I can keep any new girls out...I'm pretty much stuck. Too weak to say anything; too stubborn to let him know."

"Well...you could talk to Rogue."

"She knows how I think about Bobby and about her. She...I guess she doesn't hate me. But she doesn't like me. She doesn't want to talk to me. Especially not about _this_."

"And you don't like her. You don't want to talk to her."

"Well...no. I don't like her."

Warren finished off his sandwich, then pushed his plate aside. "Rogue was approached by the Brotherhood, you know," he said after a moment's silence. "She told me, just last week. Pyro cornered her, went to heckle her...his companions were impressed when she demonstrated her returning powers on him and laid him out flat. They retreated for a time, then along comes the recruiting wagon. Multiple Man and Juggernaut tried first; then Callisto...then Magneto himself."

Kitty snorted. "Bet they got far."

"Actually, she admitted that she considered it. She might go even yet, if Bobby keeps up with this jealousy crap."

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Hand to God, that's what she told me." Warren raised his hand, in gesture. "But my point is, who cares, Kitty? Even if she goes...you know it'll only be a matter of time before Bobby does exactly the same thing he's done twice before now. You'll be left alone and hurt while he's off with the next pretty thing that comes by."

"I know." Kitty grimaced. "He'll mope and complain - and chances are it'll be a longer stage than last time, because Polaris didn't join Magneto and Rogue's been around for longer - and then he'll finally turn to me. I'm his second option. I'm his fallback girl - the one he goes to when all other options are unappealing or unavailable." She fished her spoon out of the melting ice-cream and began stabbing at it again. "Then everything will be going my way for a while. I'll _delude_ myself into thinking I can hold onto him this time, if I just keep him happy. But...like before, he'll drop me cold when something with bigger boobs, longer legs and a more interesting power comes along." She pulled a face at herself.

Warren raised an eyebrow. "Call me...callous, but...for God's sakes, Kitty, what's his appeal? Why do you let him do this to you?"

"God, I don't know." Kitty's mouth picked up in a slight smile and she bowed her head slightly. Strands of hair fell out of her ponytail, though she ignored them. "Everything about him is just...interesting. He's one of those guys that I really find interesting - that I like talking to, being around, listening to..." She shrugged shyly. "It's just...it's so flattering, so..._unbelievable_ when someone like him, a guy that I'm genuinely fascinated by, takes an interest in me - even if it's just a little bit of interest..."

"But what makes him so fascinating?" Warren pushed.

"His opinions, his conviction...his sense of humor. He used to be such a prankster, before Polaris showed up. She called his jokes immature, and he stopped pulling them them. He didn't even try to mess around again, even when she left." Kitty grimaced. "At least Rogue hasn't changed him _too_ much. I guess that's why I can still hate his girlfriends and love him, though. He's...so interesting, to me. And that's what I want in a guy. Someone that really makes me think, who...who keeps me on my toes. Someone just...someone who can shake off responsibility for an afternoon or weekend and just _be_, you know?"

"I guess..."

"Well..." She frowned. "What do you see in Rogue?"

Warren went slightly red. "That's not relevant. I'm not interested in a relationship with her."

"Not even if she was single?"

He got to his feet, taking his empty plate with him. "I'm not going to come between Bobby and Rogue for you, Kitty. You can forget that."

"That's not what I mean," she said quickly, sincerely. "I know that nothing short of her leaving for the Brotherhood would break them up..."

"You're not going to mention that to anyone, are you?"

"What? Oh...I guess not. Who would I tell, anyway?"

"Bobby?"

Kitty grinned. "As much as I'd like to, I don't think he'd believe me." Her smile dropped. "He never does, when it me against her. She always wins there - she's always right." She waved a hand dismissively. "That's not the point. I wasn't asking you to try wedge yourself between Rogue and Bobby...I'm asking what it is that, to you, makes a strong attraction. I'm trying to give you perspective here, you big idiot."

"Oh." Warren relaxed a little, visibly. "I...I guess compatibility is important to me. I like to be able to laugh with a girl; talk about things I'm worried about and know that she understands..."

"And she's got that down-pat. You can't get more compatible except with a girl who can more or less take an imprint of all that you are, forevermore."

Warren smiled wryly. "True enough." He stacked the plate that he was still holding into the dishwasher, then closed it. "But I'm not about to come between her and him, Kitty. I've only just started fitting in around here. I don't need that kind of stigma on my name. I don't want to be remembered as 'the new guy who broke up the next Jean Grey and Cyclops', for God's sakes."

Kitty smiled a small smile. "The students will start calling you 'Wolverine' behind your back." She looked up from her ice-cream, which had by this stage become a puddle of pink in it's bucket. "The next Jean Grey and Cyclops, huh? That's what people call them?"

"It's a joke more than anything. I mean...Rogue's got far more personalities to do battle with than the late doctor, for one thing..."

That earned him a snort of laughter. "Two versus something like...twenty. I'd say there's a bit of a gap between them."

"And Bobby's a far cry from our team leader. Cyclops is consistent, if nothing else."

Kitty's expression fell. "Yeah...not like Bobby at all."

Warren resumed his seat at the table. "You need to let him go."

"I know."

"You need to get confident in yourself again."

"I know."

"You need to get angry at him, not at his girlfriends."

"I know."

"But you won't."

"I can't."

"You haven't even _tried_."

Kitty shook her head. "That's not true. It's just...every time I try to tell myself, remind myself what he's done to me, there's always that side of my mind that points out that he doesn't realize what he's done. I can't blame him if he doesn't get it."

"Then tell him."

"I'm too...self-conscious to do that. I can't tell him. He'll think I'm a freaking weirdo."

"Don't let his opinion matter to you."

"But it does, and I can't help it. I care what he thinks, because I like the _way_ he thinks." She sighed heavily. "God. I've tried everything to get over him or get _with_ him. I tried to break up him and Rogue, but she took the Cure and he just...doesn't have time for me. I tried to ignore him but he's just always _there_; I can't help finding him in a crowd. I've tried to get angry with him but I just can't _do_ it. I...I'm so damn weak, Warren. I need something to kind of buffer myself off onto - another guy, or something."

"You have to get stronger, then." Warren leaned back in his seat. "Rogue did it. She's the first to admit that she was a wallflower when she first came to this place. Now look at her. In the last mission we went on, she absorbed one of those living Bio-Sentinel things until it shut down. All because it hit her in the back with a laser shot."

"But that's _her_. We've already established that she'd better than me," Kitty said bitterly, snidely.

Warren frowned. "She worked at being the person she is," he said. "You can't just expect all the best things in the world to fall into your lap. You have to actively _make_ yourself into the person you want to be."

"That's going to require some expensive surgery, then."

He shook his head. "You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

Kitty sighed again. "Look...I'm sorry, Warren, but I really _have_ tried all these things. When Polaris left, I was almost as strong as I needed to be to pull myself back from this...this fixation I have with Bobby. _Almost_. But almost isn't enough, is it? I don't think I've got the power to do it again, especially with Rogue looking like she might be leaving. Bobby's going to turn back to me, and any effort I'd have put in now will just go to waste. So why bother?"

"_Why bother_? Is your self-worth so _low_ that...?"

"Please...Warren." Kitty winced and held up her hands. "I know you're trying to help. Really. And it _did_ help, to talk about it. But there's not really much I can do right now. Unless I hear Rogue decisively announcing her undying allegiance to Xavier and the X-Men, I'm just going to hang in limbo for a while longer. I'll wait until the next girl comes and takes Bobby's interest before I start reinventing myself. It's a bit late now." She got to her feet, taking her liquefied ice-cream and sticky spoon with her. "It makes me feel even more useless, when I think about it...when I've put in effort to make myself strong and then he just comes back, all ice-blue eyes and shy smiles - telling me I'm wonderful..."

"You have to do _something _about this..."

"I _am_ doing something. I'm waiting for him to need me again. Like the stand-in I am. Like a good fallback girl should."

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End file.
